Tony Award-winning musical star Christine Ebersole is in Fri., Nov. 2, to perform 'An Intimate Evening with Christine Ebersole' as a benefit for the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, with legendary pianist Billy Stritch accompanying her. Ebersole grew up in Winnetka and attended New Trier High School before attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, as she told the Windy City Times.
'I left college when I was 20 and moved to New York City—by myself,' she said. 'My very first job singing—one of my very first auditions—was at the Continental Baths. And I worked as a jazz singer at this place called Gypsy's. Then after that I worked as a waitress, and it was from there that I got a Broadway show. It wasn't a musical, it was a play called Angel Street with Dina Merrill. And, of course, when the show closed in three weeks I was back begging for my old waitress job.'
For 30 years Ebersole has worked at the top of her profession, culminating in her 2007 Tony Award for Grey Gardens, in which she played two roles. In Act I, set in the 1940s, she played society matron Edith Beale. In Act II she played the daughter, Little Edie Beale, as an adult in the 1970s. The acts were vastly different in musical styles.
Ebersole said that making that musical transition is easy. 'That's never been a problem with me,' she said. 'I think mainly the style of singing is formed out of the character. When I was playing Ado Annie [ in Oklahoma ] it was more character singing, and then I was playing Guinevere [ in Camelot ] . You're not going to have some operatic voice coming out of Ado Annie. Big Edie was a beautiful singer, and that's what her character was. With Little Edie there were more internal moments that were being expressed. That's really what the actor's job is. To be a servant to the character. It's just because I'm an actor first, I guess. An actor who happens to have a good voice.'
Act II of Grey Gardens is much less tuneful and more dissonant than the 1940s-style tunes of Act I. We wondered if it was more difficult to sing, or just sounded as if it were.
' It is more difficult to sing, but it speaks to the complexity of the character of Little Edie, so that's what the audience is receiving; the complexity of the character that's exemplified in the music,' Ebersole said.
Ebersole said her show for the Auditorium Theatre is an outgrowth of an act she and Stritch developed in 2006 and now have recorded. The CD of jazz-influenced standards is called Sunday in New York, and should be out in time for the holidays. In addition to the CD, Ebersole has several events coming up.
'I'm going to be doing Applause at City Center [ in New York ] at the end of January as part of the Encore! concert series,' she said. 'And I've been invited to perform at the English National Opera. That's very exciting. As the Old Lady in Candide.'
Windy City Times gallantly suggested she's not ready to play an old lady. 'Oh, I've been doing it for years, darling,' she cracked with a big laugh. Ebersole also will appear in Cashmere Mafia, a new ABC TV series that premieres in November.
An Intimate Evening with Christine Ebersole includes cocktails, dinner, Ebersole's performance and dancing with an orchestra. Individual tickets are $500-$750. Contact Amanda Martinez, 312-922-2110, ext. 368, or amartinez@auditoriumtheatre.org .